Say “cheese” ladies n gentlemen: its World Photography Day today.

Hi, so what is so special that all you budding photographers are up to today ? not much if you ask me. I think its that time of the year when you can raise a toast to none other than… yourself. Yes, you, the creator behind the lens, the worshipper of light, the alchemist of composition, trying to bend every bone in your body to get that magical POV. This day, marks the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic processes developed by Louis Daguerre. On January 9, 1839, The French Academy of Sciences announced the daguerreotype process. A few months later, on August 19, 1839, the French government announced the invention as a gift “Free to the World.” Another photographic processes, the Calotype, was also invented in 1839 by William Fox Talbot (it was announced in 1841). Together, the invention of both the Daguerreotype and Calotype mark 1839 as the year that photography was invented, also, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce created the first photograph around the same time. But I am not going to bore you stiff with facts best displayed on Wiki. The reason I feel this day,19th august should be marked with big neon sign in ones calendar is because I believe today one should take an opportunity to hold back, close your eyes, turn around and reflect on how time just flew by in front of your lens.

We as photographers are constantly in turmoil. In search of the next adventure, the next big model, the next big project. Sometimes I feel we take the words “My best photo is the one I’m going to click next” quiet too literally. With the advent of digital tech, even my pet iguana wants to be a photographer..!! The speed at which people are thinking/executing/exhibiting /selling photographic art Is fast approaching the boundaries of possibility. We are forgetting far too many things than we can remember. The attention span is nanoseconds at best. Where is the time..!!

Take a deep breath, lets ponder. What possibly makes a photograph different? Why does photography as an activity even exist? As of now, there’s hardly anything unseen, any place unexplored, any composition untried in the thousands of years of history of visual art. It’s the ability to freeze a moment in time which would have otherwise been lost in the mundane life, and be able to derive visual and intellectual pleasure from it later on what makes photos so special.

Our mind remembers life in images, not in moving video clips. Visually, we memorize things by its color, texture, emotion, expression and context. It is the ability to preserve that experience that makes photography so special..! Imagine you are out near a fountain with your toddler. The splash of at water on his little face can be enjoyed best when you can fully absorb the sight at the leisure of your couch, may be a few years later, with that same young man now sitting besides you. The same moment would have otherwise been lost while worrying about your tiny tot catching fever or breaking a tooth while you were at it actually. Many events in history would probably have not been that impactful without images.

We celebrate photography every time we pick up the camera , isn’t it? Turn the tables around today. Kiss your camera (not a sloppy one;-), spend some time hearing its nuts and bolts again, get your own pictures clicked, meet and share pictures of people you must have clicked with them, go to your fav places just to chillax, rather than shoot.
ENJOY.

“It’s the ability to freeze a moment in time which would have otherwise been lost in the mundane life, and be able to derive visual and intellectual pleasure from it later on what makes photos so special.”